Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, March 24:
AMERICAN ANARCHIST

Director:
Charlie Siskel

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, Chicago, Vienna, Stockholm, Thessaloniki Doc, Vilnius, Cleveland

About:
The author of a notorious book is forced to reckon with its destructive impact.

In 1970, William Powell, a 19-year-old disaffected anti-establishment activist, compiled recipes for explosives culled from US Army manuals found in the New York Public Library, and combined them with a radical manifesto calling for the overthrow of the government. The result: The Anarchist Cookbook. Finding a publisher all-too-happy to capitalize on the social unrest of the period, Powell’s screed generated outrage and has stayed in print over the decades, selling over 2 million copies worldwide. As Siskel all-too-frequently is ready to remind the now 65-year-old Powell, it also has been linked to a long list of heinous crimes, from Columbine and Aurora to abortion clinic bombings and Oklahoma City. Tracking down the author, who long ago denounced his tome as misguided and who has spent the intervening decade as an educator focused on special needs students, the director challenges him to face the deadly consequences of his infamous work, which, despite any efforts to contain its dangerous reach, seems destined to live on in perpetuity in the age of the Internet.

Coming to theatres this Friday, March 24:
I CALLED HIM MORGAN

Director:
Kasper Collin

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
Toronto, Telluride, New York, London, Vancouver, Mumbai, Philadelphia, In-Edit, Stockholm, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki Doc, Tempo Doc, CPH:DOX

About:
The story of the ultimately ill-fated relationship between jazz musician Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 21:
TOWER

Director:
Keith Maitland

Premiere:
SXSW 2016

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Seattle, Karlovy Vary, Jerusalem, Melbourne, Fantasia, the Hamptons, BFI London, Sitges, Mill Valley

Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

About:
An animated re-telling of a sniper’s attack on school campus in 1966.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21:
FIRE AT SEA

Director:
Gianfranco Rosi

Premiere:
Berlin 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Telluride, New York, DocAviv, Sydney, Melbourne, It’s All True, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, New Zealand, Reykjavik

Notable Recognition:
The doc was nominated for the Academy Awards.

About:
An intimate portrait of Lampedusa, an island at the heart of Europe’s migration crisis.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Friday, March 17:
UNCERTAIN

Directors:
Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands

Premiere:
Tribeca 2015

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Seattle, AFI Docs, Tempo Doc

About:
A Southern Gothic study of three residents of a small Texan town.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD via Netflix tomorrow, Friday, March 17:
NALEDI: A BABY ELEPHANT’S TALE

Directors:
Ben Bowie and Geoff Luck

Premiere:
Seattle 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hot Springs Doc, Virginia, Fairhope, Wildscreen, Ajyal Youth

About:
A baby elephant’s fight for survival underscores the need to protect the endangered species.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC, saying:
In addition to conducting an ambitious, pioneering census of Africa’s elephant population, Botswana’s Abu Camp provides a refuge for rescued pachyderms until they can be returned to the wild. When Naledi, a one-month-old calf born at the camp, is suddenly orphaned, her very survival depends on the camp’s guardians. The struggle to save the life of the unforgettable Naledi plays out against the larger fight to protect the continent’s endangered giants from extinction.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, March 17:
PS JERUSALEM

Director:
Danae Elon

Premiere:
Toronto 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, RIDM, Haifa, Berlin, Toronto Jewish, Biografilm, New Horizons, Melbourne

About:
A chronicle of three years in Jerusalem with the filmmaker’s family uncovers the city’s tensions.

Elon, who grew up in Jerusalem, relocated her Brooklyn-based family back to her homeland following the death of her father, celebrated leftwing intellectual and author Amos Elon. Though recognizing the divisiveness in the country around issues of religion and race, she feels drawn to the city, and, in some ways perhaps, hopes to counter the more extremist views with a more liberal perspective. Adjusting to life in this new country, however, proves to be a challenge, particularly for her husband Philip, a French-Algerian Jew who is forced to confront racism in what’s meant to be a welcoming society. Serving at the same time as both a reflection on fundamental questions at the heart of the state of Israel and a study in family dynamics, Elon’s film is a thought-provoking piece of personal filmmaking.